The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth
by Mistress of Sarcasm
Summary: What is a man, after all, to a woman who has learned to smile.


Here you go, a little girl power to brighten your day.

Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto_.

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Little kunoichi in a flower field, scattered in groups like dew after dawn, laughing and squealing and bundling up flowers in pudgy, childish hands.

(_Gather the flowers, set them up right, fluff them so they look natural. Put the red next to that pink one, yes, colour catches the eye, presentation is everything. If they don't look good, they won't sell. Slip the poison in between the bright petals and smile that smile as your victim leans over and breathes in the scent of death._)

Pretty kunoichi in the bathroom fixing her hair, smiling and humming. Flip, flip the fingers through the locks, brush them over the shoulder, not too obvious, not too perfect, but make it look natural.

(_Streak your hair wild colours, grow it long or shave it short, but make it eye catching. Flick it over your shoulder as you walk and swing your body so that it moves with you. Twist it in your long fingers and bite your lip so that they don't see your eyes. Hide the senbon between the strands and smile that smile as your wrist flicks and blood spurts._)

Frightened kunoichi on the battlefield, unharmed and unmarked, screaming as her brothers rush into the fray around her; unheeding of the enemy sneaking up behind her, kunai not even drawn.

(_Blush and advert your eyes; hide behind your soft smile and fluttering lashes. Conceal yourself with cowardice and hesitance and let the man save you for a while. Gather the chakra and ignore the scent of your enemy creeping closer, and let them think you are weak. Then smile that smile, and break them with one motion of your fragile hand._)

Tired kunoichi in the medic ward, sewing up wounds and wiping battle blood from her brow, mindless of the sweat, and curious of Death's presence over her patients.

(_Stay in the hospital, knit skin back together and play like you're God. Pull him back from the edge of the abyss, force her heart to beat again, stitch that leg back together, stop all that blood leaking out, save him, protect her, don't let them die. Stay in the hospital and undo all the damage and heartache and pain soldiers cause. Smile that smile, and bat Death aside as though it were a fly._)

000

_Pray, pray, that your opponent is a man,_ Suzume-sensei used to tell them, in the sunshine and the whisper of leaves. _Pray you are fighting a man, because then you are sure to win._

_Why?_ A voice, small, hard, still whole, asks.

_What is a man to us?_ Suzume-sensei's voice is a sneer and her words are kunai. _What is a man, but a hindrance? What is a man, but a weakness? What is a man to a kunoichi?_

She freezes the air around them with diamond pupils that peek over flashing glasses.

_They will underestimate you and dismiss you as nothing because you are a woman._ Something shifts in the group; a stirring, a whisper, a collective knowledge. _He will dismiss you and you will destroy him._

Sakura, hair short, body small, Ino's companion but not her equal (_pink strands scattered by wind on forest floor and your eyes like steel made palpable. ' I have strength to match my beauty!'_) shudders.

Ino, bright smiles, gentle face, good aim and good arm (_break your mold and break their perceptions. ' I don't need this! You see, I don't need it!'_) looks away.

Hinata, scared and shaking, frightened and lost and broken but not bleeding (_Naruto teaches you that Fate is nothing and all failure means is a chance to grow. ' It's because the person I've admired for so long is finally watching me and, in front of him, I can't bear to look uncool!'_) covers her ears and whimpers, trying to drown out the sound of the voice.

_You will destroy him because you are a woman, and he is nothing but a man. A man, who understands nothing, who has never fought every battle you will have to just to be seen. A man, who has never had to strive for his recognition. A man, who doesn't know our pain, doesn't know our sacrifice, and will never know our strengths. Pray your opponent is a man, my kunoichi, because any woman, even an enemy, is your sister. She will know all your tricks, and know all your suffering, because it is her burden too._

_(What is a man, to a woman who has sweat and lost and bled for the strength to smile?)_

000

Strong kunoichi amid blood and battle, faces sweaty and hands stained, eyes like knives and steel clutched in slender, strong fingers.

(_Bring the enemy down, hurl the kunai and fling the shuriken with an accuracy only a woman can have. Close your eyes and pump chakra into your veins and crumble the Earth into dust. Stop his heart and numb his arm and twist amid death and chaos with a burning eyes. Cloud his mind with your thoughts and snap his will with your own and twist his body like a puppet from the inside out, and laugh._)

_Smile that smile, and bring them down with the strength they taunted you about._

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_They are, after all, only men._

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Hope you liked it.

MoS


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